Brokaw’s Painfully Awkward Replies on BookTV

Tom Brokaw is on fire. In the hot seat today for trashing the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend for its infestation of Hollywood stars, Brokaw also managed responses to two long-winded, hothead listeners on C-SPAN’s BookTV Sunday. They demanded his thoughts on the lack of diversity in hosts of NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Brokaw was on BookTV’s three-hour “In Depth” program, which must have felt a hell of a lot longer.

Q: Why does [host of MTP] always have to be a white male?

“That’s not a condition of the job,” Brokaw said. “It’s just htat we try to pick the best journalist that is available to us. … In this case, David Gregory turned up on top. It was not a decision I made. … We do have more female participation going on.” Brokaw mentioned ABC’s Diane Sawyer and former CBS News’ Katie Couric in top news spots.

Q: Why aren’t there any black journalists in any permanent Meet the Press seat?

Brokaw replied, “Yes, in fact, that has been the case and it probably won’t be that forever. He said he had Mary Mitchell on when he took over after Tim Russert died. “Look this is a slow rising tide. David Gregory did not get the job just because he was a white male … he had the skills necessary to be a good broadcaster.” Brokaw said he believed a day could come when the host could be Black, Asian or Hispanic.

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